StockNews.com Upgrades American Express (NYSE:AXP) to Buy

StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Tuesday morning.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $188.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $221.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Monday. Stephens raised shares of American Express from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $148.00 to $193.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $214.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $209.52.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE AXP opened at $237.10 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $222.11 and its 200-day moving average is $190.85. American Express has a 12-month low of $140.91 and a 12-month high of $240.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The firm has a market cap of $170.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.36. American Express had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.40 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that American Express will post 12.98 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.17%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.06%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In related news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total transaction of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total transaction of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 38,873 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.63, for a total transaction of $9,276,263.99. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 76,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,209,855.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 210,920 shares of company stock worth $45,804,652 in the last three months. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Park Place Capital Corp raised its holdings in American Express by 382.6% in the 3rd quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 333 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of American Express by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,140 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $170,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of American Express by 92.7% in the 3rd quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,880 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,176,000 after buying an additional 3,791 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of American Express by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 44,386 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $6,622,000 after buying an additional 2,553 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its position in shares of American Express by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 225,355 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $33,621,000 after buying an additional 1,251 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

American Express Company Profile

American Express Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as integrated payments company in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the Asia Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, Canada, the Caribbean, and Internationally. It operates through four segments: U.S. Consumer Services, Commercial Services, International Card Services, and Global Merchant and Network Services.